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As he published his tax return this morning, Mr Goldsmith urged his rivals for London Mayor - which include Labour's Sadiq Khan, the Respect party's George Galloway and the Green candidate Sian Berry - to do the same.

'I have today published my tax return details, prepared and verified by PwC... I gave a commitment to do so and today I deliver on that promise,' he said.

'I look forward to all mayoral candidates doing the same so London voters can judge us equally.'

Zac Goldsmith, pictured left in central London this morning, urged his Labour rival Sadiq Khan to publish his own tax return. A spokesman for Mr Khan said he will publish his record 'asap

A spokesman for Mr Khan said the Labour candidate will publish his tax returns next week.

But Tory MP Paul Scully hit back at Mr Khan, saying: ‘Zac has delivered on his commitment. With every day that Khan dodges the question, he’s hiding from transparency.

'He can’t deal with the scrutiny, just as he couldn’t deal with scrutiny of his experimental 1.9 billion pound black hole.’

It came on a day when Mr Goldsmith was forced to defend his decision to back Britain's exit from the EU in the upcoming referendum, which drew criticism that he was 'betraying' Londoners.

In an article this morning, he acknowledged that being pro-EU would have put him in a better position to win the mayoral race but said he was not willing to put electoral politics ahead of his convictions.

SADIQ KHAN DEFENDS LINKS WITH MAN WHO DESCRIBED WHITE PEOPLE AS 'DEVILS'

Sadiq Khan, pictured in 2001 during his work on Louis Farrakhan's case, said 'even the worst people need a defence'

Labour's candidate for Mayor of London has defended his links to infamous Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Sadiq Khan represented Farrakhan in the early 2000s in his efforts to overturn a ban on coming to Britain.

Farrakhan is a hugely controversial figure who has denounced white people as 'devils' described jews as 'bloodsuckers' and called Hitler a 'very great man'.

Mr Khan, who is MP for Tooting, is attempting to follow Boris Johnson as London mayor in May. His main opponent is Tory MP for Richmond upon Thames, Zac Goldsmith.

On Thursday Mr Khan defended his role in the legal bid.

In an interview with Jack Mendel at Jewish News he said: 'I have never hidden the fact that I was a human rights lawyer.

'Unfortunately, that means that I had to speak on behalf of some unsavoury individuals.

'Some of their views made me feel deeply uncomfortable, but it was my job.'

Sources close to Mr Khan said he had condemned extremism and radicalisation publicly for his entire career.

But reports from the time reveal he played a very public role in attempting to get Farrakhan into Britain.

He was, and remains, banned because of fears his anti-Semitic views would stir up racial hatred.

In 1990 Farrakhan sparked outrage after claiming Jewish people controlled the US 'like a radar controls the movement of a great ship in the waters' and had 'got a stranglehold on the Congress'.

'I recognise that opinion in London is at best divided on this issue, and as a mayoral candidate, it would be easier for me to quietly U-turn,' he wrote.

'But I didn't get involved in politics to test every idea with pollsters, flip flop on the big issues and then carry on regardless once elected.

He will campaign on the same side as the current London Mayor Boris Johnson, who dramatically announced he was joining the Out campaign yesterday.

Mr Goldsmith's tax record shows that his taxable income since being elected as MP for Richmond Park & North Kingston was more than £6million.

Most of it came from a family trust set up by his late father, the billionaire financier James Goldsmith, who died in 1997.

He earned an additional £4.3million in profits from selling assets. Over the five year period he had an average annual income of £1.2million - 45 times the average salary for UK workers of £26,500 and 36 times the median salary for full-time workers in the capital of £33,203.

His income puts him in the highest-earning 0.05 per cent of UK taxpayers.

Mr Goldsmith is believed to be the wealthiest MP with a personal fortune thought to be between £200million and £300million.

Up until 2009 he was registered as a non-dom - a tax status that allows some UK residents to limit the tax paid on income earned overseas.

He inherited the non-dom status along with his personal fortune from his father.

But despite publishing his record today and declaring he is 'proud of my record,' Mr Goldsmith is likely to come under fire over why he did not give up his non-dom status earlier if he was not benefiting from it, as he claims.

His Tory campaigners say the amount of money he has earned under the non-dom status was 'virtually nil'.

Mr Goldsmith admitted he had been 'dealt a good hand in life' but insisted he was determined to 'play it well'.

'As well known to voters in my two elections as an MP, I became 'non-dom' automatically because of my father's international status. It was not a choice, and I relinquished it seven years ago.

'I was born, grew up and have always lived in London — except for two years travelling abroad in my early twenties. Because of this I derived very little, if any, benefit from this status as my income came to the UK and was therefore taxed here.'

Responding to the publication of his tax returns, Labour MP Neil Coyle said: 'Zac Goldsmith's tax returns raise more questions than they answer.

'They don't explain any detail of the benefits he derived from his non-domiciled tax status or explain why he bought his London home through a Cayman Islands trust.

'Londoners deserve to know the full details of Zac Goldsmith's tax affairs and the benefits he has derived from his non-domiciled status.'

ZAC GOLDSMITH BACKS BORIS JOHNSON IN CAMPAIGN TO QUIT THE EU

Zac Goldsmith (pictured right) will be campaigning on the same side as Boris Johnson (left) in the EU referendum campaign, which has drawn accusations that the pair have 'betrayed' Londoners

Zac Goldsmith has backed Boris Johnson's decision to campaign for Britain to leave the EU.

The Tory MP for Richmond Park & North Kingston, who is bidding to succeed Mr Johnson as Mayor of London in May, said this morning that the EU fails the 'test' of democracy.

In a scathing assessment of Britain's membership of the EU Mr Goldsmith wrote in an article for City AM that the deal David Cameron reached with EU leaders on Friday 'does not go far enough'.

'Given that even in the face of the UK voting to leave, the EU is unwilling to entertain meaningful reform, it is unlikely we will see anything more in the years to come,' he wrote.

'So I believe we would be better off out of the EU, and I will be voting to leave.'

Explaining that he had always stood by the principle that the 'voter is sovereign', he added: 'The most important characteristic of any democracy is that it should be possible for voters to evict those who act in their name. The EU fails on that test.

'Real power in Brussels rests in institutions that are accountable to no one.'

His stance puts him at odds with the Prime Minister, who will join him on the campaign trail during the mayoral election campaign and Mr Goldsmith has also been accused of 'betraying' London voters over his anti-EU stance.

In his article Mr Goldsmith acknowledged that being pro-EU would have put him in a better position to win the mayoral race but said he was not willing to put electoral politics ahead of his convictions.

'I recognise that opinion in London is at best divided on this issue, and as a mayoral candidate, it would be easier for me to quietly U-turn,' he wrote.

'But I didn't get involved in politics to test every idea with pollsters, flip flop on the big issues and then carry on regardless once elected.